Title:Small Molecular Gemcitabine Prodrugs for Cancer Therapy
Volume: 27
Issue: 33
Author(s): He Miao, Xuehong Chen and Yepeng Luan*
Affiliation:
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Qingdao University, Shandong Province, Qingdao,China
Keywords:
Gemcitabine, prodrug, amide, ester, derivative, anticancer.
Abstract: Gemcitabine as a pyrimidine nucleoside analog anticancer drug has high efficacy for a
broad spectrum of solid tumors. Gemcitabine is activated within tumor cells by sequential phosphorylation
carried out by deoxycytidine kinase to mono-, di-, and triphosphate nucleotides with the
last one as the active form. But the instability, drug resistance and toxicity severely limited its utilization
in clinics. In the field of medicinal chemistry, prodrugs have proven to be a very effective
means for elevating drug stability and decrease undesirable side effects including the nucleoside
anticancer drug such as gemcitabine. Many works have been accomplished in design and synthesis
of gemcitabine prodrugs, majority of which were summarized in this review.